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February 9, 2005


GLSEN Phoenix Bridges Project Training |
Successful first meeting of community college and university students/staff completed January 29, 2005 Links community college and university GSAs with high school GSAs via structured activities and resource sharing to bridge the gap between high school and college.

Glendale? Phoenix College? Gateway? Community college and university students involved in LGBTQ organizations invited to next volunteer orientation and training later this month. Please contact info@glsenphoenix.org for more information.

GLSEN Phoenix Teachers’ Lounge First Fridays @ Fair Trade Café |
Thanks to Yvonne and other teachers from across the Valley for joining the February Teachers’ Lounge where we discussed what it means and how it feels to be out to students, parents, colleagues and administrators, and shared resources to be posted to website.

The Teachers’ Lounge is where LGBTQ school staff and their straight ally colleagues and friends can talk about school climate issues, share resources and network. Next Lounge: Friday, March 4, 2005, 5-7pm at Fair Trade Café in Central Phoenix, located at NW Corner Central and Roosevelt. Bring a friend/colleague and a resource you’d like to share! We will talk about assessing school climate as well.

GLSEN Phoenix First Responder Unit In-school Workshops |
Thanks to volunteers Spencer and Stephanie for working with Laurie to complete our school counselor database. FRU, in collaboration with EMPACT-SPC, provides K-12 school counselors with information and resources to help them 1) integrate LGBTQ perspectives into existing counseling practices & crisis management tools; and 2) sensitize and empower school staff to affirmatively support LGBTQ students. We recently mailed invitations to 400 high school counselors – spread the word of this great resource! We have trainings at one unified school district, one private school and one pre-service teacher course on the calendar!

GLSEN Phoenix LGBTQ Youth Resources Bookmark |
We are about to print another 5000 copies of our bookmarks! Do you know of a resource that should be included? Do you want one or multiple copies to distribute in your community (café, school, workplace, organization, bookstore, etc…)? Contact info@glsenphoenix.org

GLSEN Phoenix/1N10/PFLAG Phoenix @ OutFar |
A good time was had by all – students, parents, teachers, friends viewed five excellent film shorts thanks to Amy Ettinger, Film Fest director (see a story on her in Girlfriends magazine) and Mike, Shelley, Dave, Laurie, Danielle, Babe, Ken, Amanda, Karen, Leonard & others for volunteering to make this fun collaboration happen.

GLSEN Phoenix/1N10/PFLAG Phoenix @ Java |
Thanks to Dave for coordinating collaborative advertisement in JAVA magazine for 12 months – sponsored by Art One Gallery, Inc.

GLSEN Phoenix @ Maricopa Community Colleges Advisory Group |
Community colleges across the county seek to create safe campuses where students, staff and faculty can learn and work in a respectful and open environment. We are contributing insight and resources to this working group – if you have ideas, comments or questions, please contact info@glsenphoenix.org

Festival for All Families - February 12 |
The Marriage Equality Task Force is planning a FESTIVAL FOR ALL FAMILIES at Phoenix Steele Park on February 12th from 12 noon to 4pm. as a follow up to last year, we want to focus on GLBT families and the current inequality of existing law. Another purpose for the rally is that we are going to use it as fund rasier for the Amend this Project. We are reclaiming the words FAMILY VALUES as ours. The right wing-neo-cons do not and will not have sole ownership of those words.

Amend This is a documentary that is being made about the 3 point-action plan held last may. The three point being the 18 couple riding a bus throughout the city to attempt to acquire a "legal" marriage licenses. Everyone new they were not going to get them is was an act of civil disobedience just as the next day was. The next day 50 couple were united in religious ceremonies by three different clergy with affidavits signed by the couples and notary. The following Tuesday couples and, clergy and other supporters attempted to get them filed with the clerk of the clerk. By the way it is illegal for clergy to marry a couple without a marriage license. This documentary will cost roughly $25,000 to complete. We have had a lot of "in kind" work and services given but there is a point when you have to have money. We have had other funds raisers and monetary donations and this is out next step.

With all that said the Festival for ALL Families will be held on 2/12/05. It is a free entry event and will be in a festival like setting with a bounce machine for children, entertainment and Speakers at noon. For sale we will have hamburgers & hot dogs with chips, soda, popcorn, and cotton candy. Check any of the local gay publications in town for advertisements, they have done us proud and have donated ad space to us.

Arizona Human Rights Fund and Foundation - Lobby and Advocacy Day |
All members, friends, allies and supporters are invited to attend the annual AHRF Lobby and Advocacy Day!
When: Monday, February 28th, 2005
Time: 10:00am-2:00pm
Where: Arizona State Capitol House Lawn - Downtown Phoenix

Lobby and Advocacy Day is an opportunity to gather with friends and supporters to inform our legislators about important issues impacting the LGBT community.
MEET with your legislators, LEARN about the issues, and SHOW the faces of LGBT families.
Tentative Schedule is as follows:
CITIZEN LOBBYIST TRAINING - 10am- 11:30am
Join us for an informative workshop on how to be a citizen lobbyist. In this session you will learn skills to communicate effectively with your elected officials, understand the legislative process (i.e., how a bill becomes law) and take away talking points and action items.
Citizen Lobbyist Training will take place in the Executive Tower, 2nd Floor.

LEGISLATOR MEETINGS - All Day
AHRF will set up meetings between you and your elected officials. This meeting gives you a chance to put a real face to our issues. Citizen lobbying training and talking points will be provided prior to meetings.
To sign up for a meeting email info@ahrf.org or call 602-650-0900.

LUNCH and SPEAKER Presentations - 11:30am- 1pm
Lunch will be available to Lobby and Advocacy attendees at a cost of $5 (be part of something important and get a cheap lunch!)

GALLERY INTRODUCTION - 1pm
Lobby and Advocacy Day attendees will have the opportunity to sit in the House and Senate Galleries and attendees will be officially introduced on the floor. Witness firsthand democracy at work!

STAY INVOLVED after Lobby and Advocacy Day
Our Political and Legislative Affairs Committee (PLAC) is currently recruiting committee members. The PLAC is responsible for coordinating the political and lobbying functions of AHRF including evaluating and endorsing candidates, establishing legislative strategies and formulating policy positions on LGBT issues.

Arizona Human Rights Fund and Foundation
email: info@ahrf.org
voice: 602-650-0900
web: http://www.ahrf.org



V-Day proudly presents this year's production of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues." |
March 5 & 6 @ Neeb Hall
Saturday @ 7:30 PM
Sunday @ 1:00 PM & 5:30 PM
Tickets available online! Also available by phone: (602)350-5405

Pre-sale Tickets:
Students $13
General public $15

Day of Tickets:
Students $15
General public $17

Attend the Fourth Annual L2G Teach-in: Breathing Life into Our Vision
The 4th and best Teach-in/Social Forum yet is coming to Tempe, AZ
Free Admission and Food!

When: Friday, March 4th (4-9 PM) & Saturday, March 5th (9-6 PM)
Where: Arizona State University Campus, Farmer Building (Southwest corner of campus)
http://www.azteachin.org/
Join us for a two-day teach-in/celebration/exploration of contemporary
issues and struggles. We will have over 30 panels and workshops
covering several local and global issues. As we continue to network and grow as a community seeking positive change in Arizona, we are pleased to announce the next Annual Local to Global Justice Teach-in.
Keynote Speakers:

  • Leslie Kauffman (United for Peace and Justice)
  • Brian Tokar (Author of Gene Traders: Biotechnology, Globalization and Resistance)
Musical Guests:
  • David Rovics
  • Blackfire
  • Jonathan Best
  • and many other local bands!
Installations:
  • Guerrilla Garden
  • Art Space
  • Free For All Market
  • Music Corner
  • Hip Hop Mic
  • Dance Stage
  • Alternative Healing Space
Sponsors and Contributors:
  • Campus Greens
  • Students for Environmental Action
  • Environmental Advocates at ASU
  • Womyn's Coalition
  • School of Justice and Social Inquiry
  • ASU Graduate and Professional Student Association
  • ASU Diversity and Awareness Programming Board
  • College of Education
  • Division of Curriculum and Instruction
  • National Lawyers Guild
  • American Civil Liberties Union
  • V-day

Student Fellowships & Scholarships |


Education chief rips PBS for gay character |


Education chief rips PBS for gay character

Network won't distribute episode with animated 'Buster' visiting Vt.

The Associated Press - Jan. 26, 2005

WASHINGTON - The nation’s new education secretary denounced PBS on Tuesday for spending public money on a cartoon with lesbian characters, saying many parents would not want children exposed to such lifestyles.

The not-yet-aired episode of “Postcards From Buster” shows the title character, an animated bunny named Buster, on a trip to Vermont — a state known for recognizing same-sex civil unions. The episode features two lesbian couples, although the focus is on farm life and maple sugaring.

A PBS spokesman said late Tuesday that the nonprofit network has decided not to distribute the episode, called “Sugartime!,” to its 349 stations. She said the Education Department’s objections were not a factor in that decision.

“Ultimately, our decision was based on the fact that we recognize this is a sensitive issue, and we wanted to make sure that parents had an opportunity to introduce this subject to their children in their own time,” said Lea Sloan, vice president of media relations at PBS.

Airing in Boston
However, the Boston public television station that produces the show, WGBH, does plan to make the “Sugartime!” episode available to other stations. WGBH also plans to air the episode on March 23, Sloan said.

PBS gets money for the “Postcards from Buster” series through the federal Ready-To-Learn program, one aimed at helping young children learn through television.

Education Secretary Margaret Spellings said the “Sugartime!” episode does not fulfill the intent Congress had in mind for programming. By law, she said, any funded shows must give top attention to “research-based educational objectives, content and materials.”

“Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in the episode,” Spellings wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to Pat Mitchell, president and chief executive officer of PBS.

“Congress’ and the Department’s purpose in funding this programming certainly was not to introduce this kind of subject matter to children, particularly through the powerful and intimate medium of television.”

She asked PBS to consider refunding the money it spent on the episode.

First act as secretary
With her letter, Spellings has made criticism of the publicly funded program’s depiction of the gay lifestyle one of her first acts as secretary. She began on Monday, replacing Rod Paige as President Bush’s education chief.

Spellings issued three requests to PBS.

She asked that her department’s seal or any statement linking the department to the show be removed. She asked PBS to notify its member stations of the nature of show so they could review it before airing it. And she asked for the refund “in the interest of avoiding embroiling the Ready-To-Learn program in a controversy that will only hurt” it.

In closing, she warned: “You can be assured that in the future the department will be more clear as to its expectations for any future programming that it funds.”

The department has awarded nearly $100 million to PBS through the program over the last five years in a contract that expires in September, said department spokesman Susan Aspey. That money went to the production of “Postcards From Buster” and another animated children’s show, and to promotion of those shows in local communities, she said.

The show about Buster also gets funding from other sources.

In the show, Buster carries a digital video camera and explores regions, activities and people of different backgrounds and religions.

On the episode in question, “The fact that there is a family structure that is objectionable to the Department of Education is not at all the focus of the show, nor is it addressed in the show,” said Sloan of PBS.

But she also said: “The department’s concerns align very closely with PBS’ concerns, and for that reason, it was decided that PBS will not be providing the episode.” Stations will receive a new episode, she said.